The worldwide cacophony has caught my attention. A word being thrown around by people who don't even hold the slightest grasp of this concept.

This is why I am atheist... It was the way I was born, and I don't put blind faith into religion - bullshit at face-value. A-theism. Lack of theism, no participation in religion. No further complications

Regardless of what spiritual perception I develop of our endlessly mysterious universe, I will remain an atheist since I won't be partaking in religion. Even if I begin to see our world as being guided by an omnipresent force that exceeds the boundaries of time and space, involved with human consciousness (somewhat akin to the mainstream "God" ), my position as an atheist will remain unchanged and I will be independent of any religious organization.

Religion is a primal way to identify "sheeple". Typical followers are brainwashed during early age and don't develop capacity to question dogma branded on their mind since childhood, usually through hostile institutions like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc. Generally, when I observe atheists and theists, the atheists tower over their subhuman counterparts in intellect and spirit.

Back to the reason I started this topic. Does the definition you hold differ from this?

<Boilerplate> Thing is MoonStalkeR: You seem to be suffering from schizphernia, which the MoonStalkeR personality is your base one, Mobius is the aggressive personality, Krypto is the depressive personality, Nautalus is the pervert personality, etc

Kazashi wrote:Daedalus, I don't care how much you know about Blood, your attitude has to change.

Blood + Focus = Love · Faith is the key · Heretics and traitors cannot stand before us · Some games are self-perpetuating - Blood requires conscientious communal effort to survive · We are the last line · Ask not for whom the main menu animates · Blood's promotion and survival - all other gaming considerations are secondary · More than just a game · Need a hint? · Make a stand

MoonStalkeR wrote:Even if I begin to see our world as being guided by an omnipresent force that exceeds the boundaries of time and space, involved with human consciousness (somewhat akin to the mainstream "God" ), my position as an atheist will remain unchanged and I will be independent of any religious organization.

The word itself represents a problem into a solution you're posing; Why would you have to disapprove something you just don't want to follow yourself?

Then again, the whole world seems to run like that; A problem caused by a single person? We'll lock him up and pretend the problem never was.

I am an atheist because I do not find the application of faith to be persuasive in my understanding of the world.

The world around me is filled with phenomena that I personally do not understand and cannot personally explain, but each explanation I receive from somebody else must stand the test of facts. Scientific theory proceeds on the basis that it reconciles the facts available - but it is strictly provisional. A scientific theory remains valid as long as the facts support it: once the body of evidence turns against a theory, it loses its validity.

Faith is the opposite in many respects.

Firstly, by definition, it is a belief held in the absence of evidence. This is understandable in many cases - some things are currently impossible to prove with absolute certainty. However, faith exists as a working solution for a lack of evidence - and once evidence or a fact record becomes available, faith by definition is no longer applicable. For example: early humans, with no explanation for the sunrise and sunset, nevertheless planted their crops and went about their business in the faith that the sun would rise the next day. In the absence of a compelling reason for this, their faith was understandable - whether it was explained by a divine chariot of a sun god, or what have you. Later, as knowledge accumulated about the solar system, the combined evidence rendered this sort of faith not only wrong, but also irrelevant.

To extrapolate slightly from the above basis of faith, an auxiliary function of faith is its maintenance of theories in defiance of after-arising data. I consider this function to be one of the most counterproductive effects of a religion. Whereas the validity of a scientific theory survives only until the evidence disproves it, a faith tends to instill in its followers an axiomatic belief that perversely endures even in the face of (and sometimes because of) robust contradictory evidence. Extrapolated far enough, faith can lead people to perform all manner of irrational, unproductive activity with absolutely no evidence to support it aside from their own personal subjective convictions.

Note that I'm not singling out religion as the only way a person (or an entire people) can be misled by blind faith. Political demagoguery, personal deceptions, and simple individual self-delusion also are historically proven paths to irrational behavior lacking a factual basis. Religion is relevant to this discussion insofar as it answers the question "why are you an atheist?" - but it is merely one vector among many of social institutions that owe more to faith than to facts.

These are my central premises and the reason why I am an atheist. It is not even an opposition to a concept of a "God" or fault-finding with tracts of holy books, or such like - the analysis doesn't even need to rise that far. Does the religion require faith? Would its central tenets collapse in the absence of faith? Do the theories of the religion reconcile with scientific facts on record, or does it exist in opposition to them?

"All right, I'm going to ask you a series of questions. Just relax and answer them as simply as you can."

I could probably fill an entire page with my thoughts on religion and why I'm an Atheist.

I can understand that some people need to believe in something greater themselves. Whether it be a God with a white beard that lives in the clouds, or whatever the hell scientologists believe. The alternative is simply horrifying to these people. It's scary to think that we're all alone, that we actually have control over our own fate, and in time we'll all die and simply cease to exist, as life has done for millions of years before us. It's much easier to give up control and have faith that someone is watching over us and if we ask nicely He will help. Tell that to the innocent children dieing of a painful terminal disease and how He miraculously comes to the rescue if everyone prays hard and has faith. Plaster that smile of contentment on your face in giving up responsibility and control over your life and blindly have faith in something that can be neither seen or proven.

When I was a child I believed in Santa Claus and I had faith that he would visit me at Christmas. That belief didn't make it real of course but it made me happy. I can understand that some people need religion in their lives for comfort, guidance, and hope. But its a delusion that society condones and supports to allow the weak among us to make it through their days. Pay no attention to all of the money that churches and religions make to do God's work, and forgive the pedophile priests and their desire to play with young boys. Don't curse or think bad thoughts or you'll burn in hell for all of eternity because God is reasonable and loves you.